In today’s business environment, employee turnover has become a daunting issue for many organizations. Employee turnover comes with a tremendous financial cost that affects both a company’s bottom line and overall productivity. The cost of replacing just one employee may range anywhere from 90% to 200% of their annual salary. Many businesses are desperately searching for ways to avoid such unwanted costs. No amount of budget cuts, however, will be able to solve it. 

There is a secret to standing out in today’s employee-centric job market and it is not in your so-called organization culture or your staff benefits package. It is in your onboarding program. Onboarding is the process through which new hires are physically, emotionally, and professionally incorporated into the existing corporate culture and operations of a new workplace. 

Getting your new hire started on the right foot requires more than just offering them a quick tour of the office, and sending them on their way. It just doesn’t work like that. As the saying goes, “you do not give guns to soldiers without bullets.” That is a recipe for disaster. Just because the IT guy had set up all the necessary passwords to your machines, it doesn’t mean your employee is ready to be fed to the alligators. 

According to NeCro EDC Employee Engagement Report (2021), organizations that create an emotional connection with their employees early in the hiring process tend to have higher levels of engagement and retention. Other than skills training, building a personal connection with new hires early can significantly impact how they adjust to their new roles. This enables them to reach efficiency much faster. 

It is important to note that while employees need to prove themselves to employers to pay them, employees are also betting on their careers and giving away their previous lives to their employers. Proper onboarding is important to both parties in the following ways: 

• Proper Onboarding Reduces Employee Turnover

Employee turnover can be so expensive. It’s not only the cost of advertising and paying out recruiters. You’ve got to think about what other employees need to pick up the slack, draining the organization of time energy, and resources. Employers that invest in onboarding procedures save money by retaining 50% more new hires than they would otherwise. 

• Proper Onboarding Boosts Productivity

When there are fewer vacant jobs, it means there are higher rates of productivity. When members of your workforce are not pressured to fill positions and juggle multiple roles at once, they can focus entirely on the work before them. It leads to happy employees who are 50% more productive.

• Proper Onboarding Enhances Employee Compliance

According to NeCro EDC Employee Engagement Report (2021), proper onboarding ensures employee compliance with company policies. Compliance is very important, whether it’s about security or how to go about business. It sets the tone for the employee’s experience in the workplace i.e. what kind of conduct is expected, how to interact with customers and team members, and so forth. With regulators and auditors stepping up their game lately, no company should risk taking a non-standardized approach to compliance paperwork. 

• Proper Onboarding Sets Employee Roles and Responsibilities/ Expectations

No one should be tricked into doing something they did not sign up for. Transparency is the key to the employer-employee relationship. Onboarding is the employer’s opportunity to clarify fundamental expectations, address uncertainties, and answer big questions before they can develop into safety issues and productivity killers. 

• Proper Onboarding Showcases Company Culture

Whether you’re a family-friendly company or you have a Friday drinking culture, onboarding demonstrates your mission, values, and unique characteristics at the moment when employees are at their most receptive. It also shows new hires how they can interact with and influence the culture through their actions and attitudes at work. 

• Proper Onboarding Promotes Teamwork and Mentorship

Managers can take some concrete steps during the onboarding process to forge powerful lasting connections with employees. Beyond helping new hires feel acclimated to the workplace, effective onboarding uses the human element to connect employees, new and old on an emotional personal level.  Any organization can implement an effective onboarding program easily. Though it might be tedious, it is not rocket science. At the end of the day, an onboarding program should treat new hires as people not as commodities. The process should neither be a way to check off compliance requirements nor a method to overload the new hire with too much information. Every company should thus be ready to put a proper onboarding strategy in place as you may never get a second chance to make a first impression on your employees.